PITTSBURGH — In a race defined by the authenticity of two vastly different candidates, Republican U.S. Senate contender Mehmet Oz, deemed an out-of-touch millionaire by his eager critics, is leaning into his own story to audiences across the state, warning that the American dream that propelled him to a long career is much harder to achieve today.
In an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette late last week en route to a fundraiser with Sen. Pat Toomey, Oz, the cardiothoracic surgeon and longtime TV celebrity who is facing Democrat John Fetterman in the November election, hit back against one of the most oft-repeated narratives in the race: that he's so exorbitantly wealthy that he cannot possibly understand the plight of everyday Pennsylvanians.
Like he does often on the trail, Oz said his father was born on a dirt floor and immigrated to this country, where the younger Oz lived the American dream. Work hard and help your fellow Americans and you'll succeed, he recalled. His upbringing, he said, was fundamentally important in his medical practice and in his "appreciation of how challenging it is to thrive in America" today.
"I believe when I was younger, it was easier to recognize the American dream," Oz said. "I still think it's here. We just have to shine it up and make sure that it's available to all."
His critics have sought to paint him into a caricature; a cartoonlike figure of the wealthy, mansion-owning elitist, seeking personal gain in politics. They've hoped to convince voters that Oz is not one of them, and it's shown up in polling at times, with the candidate's favorability rating struggling.
But former President Donald Trump, wealthy himself, was able to tap into the populist energy of the Republican Party, driving turnout and getting working-class voters to believe that Washington elites — not business tycoons — had abandoned them. Oz is banking on the same, in a way, and in trips across Pennsylvania, has connected these concepts back to his own American story.
It hasn't always been well-received, and that's not out-of-the-ordinary in a race between two of the largest personalities in Pennsylvania political history. The state Democratic Party labeled him an out-of-touch millionaire late last week, alleging that he'd "say anything to any audience to get elected" and "doesn't know a thing about the lives of Pennsylvanians."
"If elected to the senate, he'd fight for millionaires with mansions while selling out Pennsylvania families every chance he gets," Democratic spokesman Jack Doyle said in a statement.
Nonetheless, the polls in the race are tightening, and the toplines of surveys by Fox News and Emerson College this past week show Oz cutting into Fetterman's lead, narrowing it to within the margin of error in both cases.
The Fox poll has Fetterman up 45% to 41%, down from an 11-point lead for the Democrat in its late July survey. In the Emerson poll, Fetterman's two-point advantage (45% to 43%) is down from the 4-point lead he held last month. According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, the polls show that Oz has solidified his support among the Republican base, in particular.
Like Trump, Oz is pouring some of his populist pitch into his economic plan. Asked what specific actions he'd take to bring down costs for working families and individuals, Oz said the first step is to "free our economy so they can actually harvest energy," referring to drillers.
He said they're not allowed to drill on federal land, insisting that energy producers feel like they're under assault. They can't build pipelines, he said, to take the energy to places it could be used — an argument reminiscent of the GOP's platform two years ago when they were warning of the impacts of a Joe Biden administration.
And there's not enough liquified natural gas facilities to liquify it and ship it overseas, he added. Republicans leaders have argued that a lack of pipeline capability makes the U.S. more vulnerable to international market shifts, like the impacts of Russia's war in Ukraine.
"I think it's better for the environment, certainty better for local jobs and definitely better for national security if we have more energy," Oz said.
The Fetterman campaign has dismissed these arguments as empty platitudes. A spokesman said Fetterman has proposed real solutions, including suspending the federal gas tax, taking on corporate greed and expanding manufacturing at home in America.
Oz "doesn't have any actual solutions to addressing inflation besides defending big oil for driving up energy costs on Pennsylvania consumers," Fetterman spokesman Nick Gavio said, referencing Fetterman's assertion that companies like Shell and Chevron were making record-breaking profits while consumers were paying higher prices at the pump.
The federal gas tax sits at 18.4 cents per gallon. Fetterman has also called for a greater investment in American oil.
Oz's economic platform, in particular, led the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — the biggest lobbying group in the country — to endorse him, officials said. Ashlee Rich Stephenson, senior political strategist at the business federation, said there's no race in the country with a starker contrast in policy and priorities at a time the economy is suffering.
The candidates represent two paths, Stephenson said, and Oz's is "pro-growth, pro-jobs and pro-free enterprise." She said look no further than Oz's desire to "fast track pipelines and get the Pennsylvania energy economy working again."
"Winter is on the horizon, and why we would want to slow down or totally halt Pennsylvania energy production — when we're in a 40-year inflationary period where people can't afford to fill up their gas tanks or shop at the grocery store — that we'd want to make things tougher for Pennsylvanians, it just doesn't make any sense," said Stephenson, who leads the federation's political affairs and issue advocacy division.
Asked about Oz's wealth and whether it plays a role in in his ability to connect with average Pennsylvanians, Stephenson said the chamber's endorsement process has nothing to do with an individual's personal prosperity, adding that Oz created his own fortune and been entrepreneurial.
Oz and his wife have assets valued between $104 million and $422 million, which would make the candidate one of the wealthiest members of the Senate if elected, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported earlier this year.
Sam DeMarco, chair of the Republican Committee of Allegheny County, said Oz has more in common with the everyday Pennsylvanian than Fetterman. He's a heart surgeon, noted DeMarco, who recalled the story of a GOP caucus breakfast earlier this year when Oz helped an attendee who had passed out.
"They talk about Bill Clinton being such a great politician — talking to you like you were the only person in the room," DeMarco said. "When you're talking to Oz, he's talking to you. Here's a guy who's world famous, but when he's talking to you, he's talking to you."
In the interview this past week, Oz, who's previously said he'd cut taxes, said part of his economic platform is to reduce the tax burden on small businesses specifically. He said they're paying taxes "they can't escape out of" and don't have the flexibility of large corporations to move money around.
A game plan
Practicing medicine, Oz has helped people who were experiencing various stressors, many of them economic in nature, the candidate said. He's seen firsthand the effects of people scared to lose their job or worried that their savings won't be there when they retire, he added.
Gavio said Oz wants to cut taxes only for billionaires and ultra-millionaires like himself.
"He supports a radical plan that would raise taxes on more than one-third of Pennsylvanians, including working families, Social Security beneficiaries and active-duty service members," Gavio said.
The Fetterman camp appears to be referring to a plan that U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., released earlier this year — which would impose income taxes on more than half of Americans who don't pay any now, according to The New York Times.
Democrats have sought to tie Republican candidates to the plan, which was rejected by most Senate Republicans, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
On Philadelphia's "Morning Answer" radio program in April, Oz said Scott has been a "wonderful adviser," and said the Florida senator "also has a vision for what the party can do going forward." Democrats have cited this comment as proof Oz supports the plan, though it's not as cut-and-dry.
"And we may not all agree on the specifics of the vision, but you know, you want to have a game plan, something that you're aiming towards, and I think he's tried to do that and ... these are the earlier steps that need to be taken so when we take back the Senate in November, we have a very clear ideal of what to do," Oz said in the radio interview.
